Strategic Initiatives

At The George Washington University, our ultimate goal is to be the preeminent research university in the nation’s capital, with unparalleled resources for our students, our neighbors, the nation and the world. We are seizing new opportunities to enhance our academic, research and service programs, focusing particularly on six strategic initiatives:

Sustainability

The Office of Sustainability provides a strategic home for sustainability initiatives at the George Washington University that are implemented in partnership with stakeholders across the organization. The George Washington University seeks to engage the world by exploring the important issues of our time including policy and governance for sustainability with a vision to create resource systems that are healthy and thriving for all. Through efforts underway in operations, teaching, research, and outreach, the university is committed to being a model of sustainability.

Affordability

Across the country, parents are worried about paying for college. To address this growing concern, GW instituted a five-year fixed tuition and guaranteed financial aid program. It ensures that students’ tuition will remain stable for up to five years and need-based and merit-based institutional grants will remain at least at the levels awarded at the time of the student’s initial enrollment. We also are committed to moderating any increases in line with inflation.

For families with multiple children at the University, we offer the GW Family Grant, providing a 50 percent discount.

Community

Between their first steps onto campus and the moment they throw their graduation caps in the air, students become part of a lifelong and worldwide GW community. After commencement, they remain an important part of who we are. To strengthen our relationship with 225,000 alumni around the world, GW’s Alumni Association focuses its efforts on:

Engaging alumni to create lifelong interactions with fellow graduates, current students and GW;

Providing an outlet for alumni to voice their opinion with the University;

Building a culture of philanthropy to support current and future generations of GW students and alumni.

Innovation

President Knapp has laid out an ambitious but achievable goal to increase GW's investment in academic learning, research, and the student experience by $60 million per year, through the Innovation Task Force. The plan is to build up to that $60 million level over the course of the next five years. This funding will come from three components: raising new funds from philanthropic sources; increasing the productivity of our research and instructional programs; and finding savings in our business processes. In other words, we will increase the rate of fundraising and the efficiency and productivity of our programs until, at the end of five years, we have reached the level of an additional $60 million per year (i.e., from that point onward) to invest in our priorities.

Service & Engagement

The Center for Civic Engagement and Public Service aims to integrate civic engagement into George Washington University’s educational work. We focus GW’s resources to meet community needs beyond the campus, promote active citizenship in a diverse democracy, and enhance teaching, learning and scholarship at GW.

Diversity & Inclusion

The Office of Diversity and our campus has embraced an ambitious agenda to move us forward in advancing our goals to become a more diverse and inclusive community. By incorporating a broad range of human experiences and a rich variety of human perspectives, we enlarge our capacity for learning, enrich the quality and texture of campus life, and better prepare for life and leadership in a pluralistic society.